American economist Fiona Scott Morton won’t take up a job she was offered as the European Commission’s chief competition economist after a political backlash culminating in criticism from French President Emmanuel Macron about the choice of a non-EU candidate for the role.
“Given the controversy that has arisen because of the selection of a non-European to fill this position, and the importance that the Directorate General has the full backing of the European Union as it enforces, I have determined that the best course of action is for me to withdraw and not take up the Chief Economist position,” Scott Morton said in a letter published by European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager on Twitter Wednesday morning.
Scott Morton’s decision to withdraw comes as the College of Commissioners was due to discuss her appointment on Wednesday, after five commissioners raised concerns about Vestager and President Ursula von der Leyen’s pick for the role, according to Brussels Playbook.
The Yale University professor’s former ties to Big Tech companies including Microsoft and Apple raised eyebrows, as she would have been in charge of advising on the Digital Markets Act, the EU law designed to tame those very companies.
Scott Morton would also have been the first non-EU citizen to take on such a senior Commission post, which sparked opposition from the bloc’s heavyweights, particularly France.
Over the past days Paris has fiercely opposed the appointment, calling on the Commission to retract the job offer. On Tuesday, Macron told reporters he was “skeptical” about the nomination and said the move was not “coherent” with Brussels’ strategic autonomy goals.
“The work of enforcing modern competition laws and important new tools such as the Digital Markets Act is critical, both for citizens of the EU and those of other countries,” Scott Morton wrote in her letter to Vestager. “I wish you and your team the best in carrying out this important task.”
